College basketball

College basketball: Public League coaches skeptical of Purnell's choice of DePaul assistants

April 21, 2010|By Mike Helfgot | Special to the Tribune

Between them, Simeon's Robert Smith and Morgan Park's Nick Irvin hold significant influence over dozens of Chicago's most talented young basketball players.

Neither coach reacted well to some of the names added — and left off — new DePaul coach Oliver Purnell's staff on Wednesday.

Tracy Webster, a favorite of several Public League coaches who served as interim head coach after Jerry Wainwright was fired during the season, was not hired while three of Purnell's former assistants at Clemson were.

"My relationship right now is not going to be good with them," said Smith, who has coached Simeon to three state championships in the last five years. "That could change in a month or two months, but right now it is not good.

"I had a conversation with Coach Webster today. He thought everything was done right on their behalf.

"They made a decision on what they thought was best. Hopefully it works for them. I'm not in agreement with it, but who am I? They got the people they think will build DePaul up into a national power."

Purnell retained a pair of assistants with Chicago ties, Billy Garrett and David Booth. His staff seems to reflect a strategy of targeting the city as well as going out of state for recruits.

"Me, personally, I would have kept the whole staff," said Irvin, whose family owns the influential Mac Irvin Fire AAU program. "Billy and David know the city a bit, but they can't attack it by themselves. Maybe they want to be well-rounded and go to different cities and states to find the pieces to the puzzle they are building.

"Everybody wants to come to Chicago to see basketball. College coaches call me every day and want to talk about the talent in Chicago. It is the mecca of basketball, and it's going to be that way for at least the next 10, 12 years. By doing that, I don't know if DePaul knows that. Maybe they are scared of us?"